ISSN 0973-1555(Print) ISSN 2348-7372(Online) HALTERES, Volume 6, 121-131, 2015 © HEO, C.C., LATIF, B., SILAHUDDIN, S.A. AND KURAHASHI, H. 121 Morphology of third instar Boettcherisca highlandica Kurahashi & Tan, 2009 (Diptera: Sarcophagidae) *Heo, C.C. 1,2 , Latif, B. 1 , Silahuddin, S.A. 1 and Kurahashi, H. 3 1 Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Jalan Hospital, 47000 Sungai Buluh, Selangor, Malaysia. 2 Institute of Forensic Science (IFS), Universiti Teknologi MARA, Level 4, Academic Building, Faculty of Medicine, 47000 Sungai Buluh, Selangor, Malaysia. 3 International Department of Dipterology, Hikawadai 1-2-21, Higashikurume City, Tokyo 203- 0004, Japan. (e-mail: *chin@salam.uitm.edu.my) Abstract Five species of Boettcherisca have been recorded hitherto in Malaysia. The present study demonstrates that Boettcherisca highlandica Kurahashi & Tan could be playing a role in forensic investigations as the larvae were recovered from a rabbit carcass placed at Cameron Highlands, peninsular Malaysia. The third instar morphology of B. highlandica is described for the first time. The larval length ranged from 17-18 mm, with the anterior spiracle composed of 28-30 papillae arranged in two irregular rows. The posterior spiracle is large, heavily pigmented with dilated tails at the upper and lower end of peritreme. Morphological differences of third instar and adults between B. peregrina and B. highlandica are highlighted, and keys to differentiate species of Sarcophagidae of forensic importance are provided herein. Keywords: Boettcherisca highlandica, Sarcophagidae, third instar, forensic entomology, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia. Received: 28 September 2015; Revised: 15 October 2015; Online & Published: 5 November 2015. Introduction The literature on the species richness and biogeography of Sarcophagidae in Malaysia is relatively scarce compared to other dipteran families such as Calliphoridae. Sugiyama et al. (1990) described six new species of sarcophagine flies from Malaysia and Singapore. Twelve years later, a taxonomic key of the oriental Sarcophagidae was provided by Kurahashi (2002), where several new species were added. In 2007, Kurahashi & Leh listed the species of Diptera collected in Sarawak, East Malaysia and documented 21 species of Sarcophagidae, along with a new species described, Parasarcophaga omari Kurahashi & Leh, 2007. It was then followed by Kurahashi & Tan (2009) who published a checklist on the sarcophagid flies from peninsular Malaysia which comprised two subfamilies, 20 genera and 45 species. Soon after that, a sarcophagid, Iranihindia martellata (Senior-White, 1924) was documented as a new locality record for peninsular Malaysia (Tan et al., 2010a). The genus Boettcherisca was established by Rohdendorf in 1937 where he designated Myophora peregrina Robineau- Desvoidy, 1830 as type species. Lopes (1961) listed seven species in the checklist including B. septentrionalis Rohdendorf; B. formosensis Kiener & Lopes; B. nathani Lopes; B. javanica Lopes, B. peregrina (Robineau-Desvoidy); B. karnyi (Hardy) and B. atypica (Baranov). The phylogeny of Boettcherisca can be divided into two monophyletic and one paraphyletic group, namely peregrina-group, septentrionalis-group and karnyi-group, respectively. Based on the cladogram analysis and geographic distribution, the genus Boettcherisca is postulated to have a Sundaland origin (Kurahashi & Kano, 1984).